บท 7: Chapter 7: Performance
"Well this is perfect, I can't see-" Kurogane begins complaining. Kitani shines a light from his phone to stop the nagging.
"Well that solves one problem, but where's that curse?" Kurogane scans the scene.
Suddenly a sharp whine cuts through the room. I whirl around. A white line zips through the air, severing the air as it flies.
We leap to the side as it impales the ground. Dust clouds the air upon impact. Kurogane blasts the dust away with a swipe of his hand.
"Perfect, it's leading us toward it," Kurogane traces the white line back to the source in the darkness.
"What about the light?" Kitani shouts after him, and eventually, we chase after him.
Another piercing noise fills my senses and I push Kitani out of the way, another white line shoots through the air.
"Nice, how did you see that coming?" Kitani rises to his feet quickly.
"I'm not so sure ," several sensations overtake me at that moment. "Speaking of which, there's more, a lot more."
I collect a large sum of air and blurt out a shockwave of cursed energy, shattering the barrage of white arrows flying at us.
"Let's catch up," we spring from the ground, our movements synchronized. Kurogane is nowhere in sight, lost amid the chaos. Every second counts; we have to catch up.
We rush through the hallways of the museum, no sign of Kurogane. We keep searching through the barren halls until we reach a large opening.
"Kurogane?" Kitani asks out of breath, he shines his light on the silhouette. He turns around, his normal stern expression sits on his face.
"I was wondering when you guys were gonna catch up," he cracks his neck and knuckles. "I was tracking this thing the whole time you guys went exploring." Kitani and I begin to make a fuss.
"Children? Here? No, no no no no... No children allowed here," The voice is broken and has a deathly rasp to it.
A bandaged body drops from the ceiling, splattering like a bug. It's black blood spilling on the floor, a gurgling noise rises from the swamp of blood. Dark hair sprawls out into the floor and a womanly figure emerges from the beastly cocoon. Her bandages fall and weave into a horrific dress.
"Gross," the three of us say in unison.
"No children... Leave children! Leave!" Her harrowing voice shrieks as white sashes burst from her back. They lift her into the air and several others poke out and set their aim onto us.
"Shut the hell up!" Kurogane leaps into the air and begins forming his weapon. She effortlessly swipes him away like a bug.
"FALL!" Kitani shouts as he thrusts out an open palm. Green cursed energy surges around his hand and envelops the curse. In a flash, the curse is overpowered and sent spiraling down. It crashes into the ground, trapped in Kitani's energy.
I sprint toward the monster and set my palm ablaze with cursed energy. I strike her ribcage, I feel its flesh collapse, and with a guttural scream it's hurled into a nearby wall. A cloud of smoke and debris mushrooms across the museum.
The earth trembles below us, there's 1, 2, 10,100? We can't possibly dodge all of these. And my technique could clear the field, but I'd run the risk of obliterating everything and everyone.
Finally, the storm of white arrows erupts from the ground. They slice through the air and tear into us. A sharp pain bursts through my side, a spurt of blood escapes my lips in a crimson arc. I can hear Kitani yelp, nothing from Kurogane. He must've still been in the wall from earlier.
The arrows shoot back down into the earth. Kitani and I crumple to the ground along with them.
Gritting my teeth I rise up holding my side. I hear Kurogane's heavy footsteps approaching, he's carrying a handful of white sashes.
"I like you, I wanna see how long you can last!" he casts them aside and lunges at her. His energy morphs seamlessly into his spiked dusters. He ingulfs his foot in cursed energy and stomps with such force that it sends her body hurdling into the air. He slams his fist into her side. A shockwave of wind bursts from the impact. She flies toward the ceiling but he pursues her relentlessly, he grabs her hair and unleashes a devastating flurry of punches to her face. A shower of black blood sprays across the museum walls.
"DEMON FLURRY," Kurogane's roar reverberates across the room. Filling it with his overwhelming animosity. With a final strike his cursed energy peaks into his fist. The force is unrelenting, sending her crashing to the ground, and sending us flying. The impact births a massive storm of debris, engulfing the area in a thick, churning haze.
"Holy shit," I say as the dust finally settles. As Kurogane approaches us, my body can't help but feel sort of afraid of him.
"You guys alright," he says, oddly concerned. I look down at Kitani who's passed out in my arms.
"Yeah we're good," I smile at Kurogane, "You were a completely different person there."
"You should see the others," he smears the blood on his cheek.
Just as I begin to question who exactly "the others" are the veil drops. Inumaki-Sensei is walking calmly toward us.
She bends over and gives me a thumbs up with a wide grin.
"Oh get up Kitani," Kurogane begins wringing Kitani out like a towel, "We passed our first mission as a team."
Kitani's eyes burst open and instantly begin celebrating with Kurogane. Inumaki-Sensei grabs my hand and we join the group.
As we sit at the staircase of the museum, waiting for the van to arrive we discuss our plans.
"Well I'm goin' on a date," Kurogane boasts to the group.
"I don't know I had Ramen yesterday," Kitani slouches on the steps, completely ignoring Kurogane's boasting."
Yeah you're right," I converse with Kitani still ignoring Kurogane's news.
"Hey! You guys don't care about my love life?" Kurogane whines as he swivels away.
"Having tea with one of the battle-crazed exchange students isn't my idea of a date," Kitani nonchalantly shoots him down."She's not weird," Kurogane retorts as his face glows with embarrassment.
"Wait, you have a girlfriend?" I scream in confusion. "You seem so.. undateable." Inumaki-Sensei and Kitani scream out in laughter.
"Well what's that supposed to mean!" Kurogane grabs hold on my collar.
"Hey no, I didnt mean it like that, you just strike me as the asexual type," I struggle to say with my face sore from laughter.
"I'll have you know that I am very intimate!" He screams, his face red with embarrassment.
The lights of the van creep up onto us suddenly and nearly blinds us. Kurogane relinquishes his grip on me and I tumble to the bottom of the steps. He stomps into the van.
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